Gingerbread Biscotti

Another holiday season, another biscotti flavor, amirite? It’s times like this I really wish I could just make all the biscotti all the time and never stop ever. Watch out, the future of my blogging may be “Fresh April Biscotti” real soon.

No, but really… One cannot live on just biscotti alone, and a blog dedicated to just one type of cookie certainly couldn’t entertain that many people, so I’ll just have to settle for throwing in a good ol’ biscotti recipe here and there. Lucky for you, if you’re in the biscotti camp with me, we are here! And I don’t know about you, but I’ve got my eggnog ready for these gingerbread babies.

Recipe #9 of our 12 Days of Christmas Cookies party comes to you straight from the land of ginger and molasses, two of the key ingredients to making gingerbread what it is. We’ve visited gingerbread land here and here before, so there’s really nothing too new going on with this recipe. You’ll find the usual suspects of my basic biscotti recipe: butter, an egg, flour, and spices. But we’re introducing a few new players to the game in order to get the perfect texture, flavor, and color of these gingerbread cookies.

Typically, my biscotti use both melted butter and vegetable oil for fat and moisture. Instead of using oil, I left it out completely and used molasses in its place. That way, I still had enough moisture, but not too much moisture, and I was able to get the gingerbread flavor off on the right foot.

Other key players in flavoring these gingerbread biscotti: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and yes, black pepper. You’ve used black pepper in my gingerbread cookies and also my pumpkin pie. Juuuuust a pinch gets the job done. It just sets off all of those other familiar flavors and adds a little something special. I promise, you will not feel like you’re eating peppery cookies.

As all biscotti goes, you’ll form your dough into a slab.

You’ll bake that slab for about 20 minutes, then allow it to cool for 10.

After it’s cooled a bit, you’ll cut it into its 12 individual cookies. Each cookie gets flipped on its side and the cookies bake for 9 minutes before flipping one more time to bake the other side. Easy peasy!

Once the biscotti are cool, you can dust them with powdered sugar or leave them plain. You can also decorate with white chocolate, if you so desire.

These gingerbread biscotti are a must-have during the holiday season. While gingerbread really knows no season to me, there’s something about those warm spices that make everything a little more jolly. Plus, you know I am all about that dunk. I dunked these cuties in coffee, but they would probably be a million times better dunked in eggnog! Side note, if you love eggnog, make these cookies. Now!

Easy, gingerbready, jolly, tasty… These biscotti would make a perfect addition to your cookie baking arsenal and a cute filler cookie for the spaces between all the circle cookies on your cookie trays.

Because just like great people, great cookies come in all shapes and sizes. And even sometimes with black pepper.

Traditional Italian cookies spiced with all the flavors of the holiday season, ready for a dunk in some eggnog!

Author: freshaprilflours.com

Yield: 12 cookies

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 Tablespoons molasses

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 and ¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

pinch of black pepper

powdered sugar for dusting, if desired

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Lightly flour the baking sheet. Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, whisk together butter, molasses, egg, vanilla extract, and brown sugar until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix with a large wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula until everything is combined.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured baking sheet and, with floured hands, pat dough into a rectangle about ½" thick. My rectangle was 6" wide and 7 and ½" long (using a ruler or a ruled silicone baking mat is helpful here).

Bake dough slab for 20-22 minutes, or until the sides of the slab are lightly browned. The slab will be slightly cracked-- this is ok. Remove baked slab from the oven, but do not turn off the heat. Place baking sheet on a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Once the dough is cool enough to touch, cut into 1" thick slices using a sharp knife. Cut these 1" slices in half, making a perpendicular slice down the entire slab. Set slices cut sides up on the baking sheet. Return to the oven to bake for 9 minutes. Remove from oven, turn biscotti over, and bake the other side for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet (cookies will become crunchy as they cool). Transfer biscotti to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, before serving. Biscotti stay fresh in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. Baked biscotti may be frozen up to 3 months.